Without looking away from the window, the President shook his head and said, "You know, right now I really hate the Israelis for putting me in this position."

Kennedy frowned at the President's words. Emboldened by a career of making difficult decisions she said, "You don't mean that, Mr. President. "When Hayes turned around she said, "The Israelis didn't put this facility under a hospital. Saddam did. He is the one who has put those people in harms way. He's the one who's put us in this position."

Situation room, Wednesday morning

General Flood was traveling light, so as not to attract too much attention. He'd brought along only four aides, one each from the air force, the navy, the marines and the army. When the President and Kennedy entered the Situation Room, the five military men were arrayed around the far side of the table. Simultaneously, the warriors snapped to their feet.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Please be seated. "The President pulled out his leather chair at the head of the table and sat.

Michael Haik, the President's national security advisor, arrived on their heels. He and Kennedy sat next to the President. The President's chief of staff had not been invited to the meeting, and General Flood was very appreciative. He didn't want the President to be distracted by Valerie Jones inserting political issues into the meeting. The task at hand was to apprise Hayes of his military options and give him a realistic estimate of the time it would take to move the right assets into position.

General Flood was seated opposite the President at the far end of the table. He was an imposing man at six feet four and almost 300 pounds. Flood leaned forward, placed his forearms on the table and started. "Mr. President, as you have requested, my staff and I have prepared several contingencies for you. The first plan is one you are familiar with. Within minutes of you giving us authorization, we could launch a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles that would level the target. This plan has only one redeeming quality in my opinion. It guarantees us that we won't lose any air crews." Flood paused briefly. "We are also of the opinion that a strike with Tomahawks would not guarantee the destruction of the primary target."

The President wasn't sure what the general meant, so he asked, "Please elaborate?"

"Dr. Kennedy has provided us with satellite imagery that suggests a command- and control-type structure was created underneath the hospital. Tomahawks don't work. against these types of hardened targets. We would merely level the hospital and incur some collateral damage."

"General," growled the President with a look of disapproval on his face.

"I'm sorry, sir," apologized the general, who had momentarily forgotten the President's severe dislike of sterile military terms. "We would merely level the hospital and kill most, if not all, of the people inside. We would, of course, also run the risk of an errant Tomahawk hitting something other than the target, but depending on how many missiles we use in the attack the chances of that happening is somewhere in the neighborhood of five to ten percent."

"What's the next option?"

"The next one involves using F-117A stealth fighters from the 48th Fighter Wing out of Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. These platforms would give us maximum stealth and the ability to deliver precision-guided munitions to the target. Our odds for success in taking out the nukes are much better, but still somewhat limited." "How so?" asked the President.

"To go after a hardened target like this we need to use penetration bombs. The weapons bays of the F-117's are limited as to the size of the bombs they can carry. The largest penetration bomb they can deliver is the GBU-27/B. It's a good weapon, and in most cases I think it would suffice, but with this strike, sir," Flood adopted an uneasy tone, "I'm afraid we're only going to get one chance to take these things out"

The President nodded. "I share your concerns, and agree that we are only going to get one chance at this. If we send in the stealth fighters, what are our odds for success?"

^ -General Flood looked first to his left and then to his right. "We have some disagreement on what the number might be. "The general nodded to a man in a dark blue air force uniform.

"Mr. President, I'm Colonel Anderson. It is my opinion that a flight of four F-117's, each one armed with two of the twenty-one hundred pound GBU-27/B laser-guided paveway bombs, would be more than enough to destroy this target."

"So you're talking eight bombs."

"That's correct, sir."

"And you're confident that the nuclear devices will be destroyed."

"I am, sir. This is the weapon we used on many of the hard targets during the Gulf War, such as aircraft shelters and command and control centers."

"How confident?"

The colonel thought about it for a moment and replied, "Ninety percent, sir."

The President wasn't sure he liked the answer. He noticed that one of the generals other aides was frowning in such a way that it was obvious he disagreed with his fellow warrior. The man was a marine, and Hayes noted the birds adorning his epaulets. He looked the officer in the eye and said, "Colonel, you seem to be in disagreement."

Without hesitation the marine replied, "Yes, I am, sir."

"What's the problem with Colonel Andersen's plan?"

The marine looked across the table at his friend and said, "I have a lot of respect for Colonel Anderson, but we are in disagreement as to what would be the more effective plan of action here. I don't feel that a ninety percent success rate on this mission will cut it. If the stealth fighters don't succeed in penetrating the bunker beneath the hospital all they will do is add a layer of rubble to the top of it, making the target even harder to penetrate if we need to conduct follow-up strikes."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Are you familiar with Deep Throat, sir?"

The President was a little miffed by the question. The first thought that entered his mind was Watergate, quickly followed by the porno movie of the same title. He decided it was best to say nothing, and simply shook his head.

"Deep Throat, sir, is the name for our super penetrator bomb, the GBU-28/B. Colonel Anderson is correct that the GBU-27/B was very successful against hardened airplane shelters and other low-level command and control centers, but it should be noted that the weapon was absolutely ineffective against Saddam's big command and control centers." The marine looked briefly at General Flood and then continued. "During the war the CIA located what they thought was Saddam's main command bunker. It was at the al-Taji Airbase about twenty miles outside of Baghdad. Early in the air war we launched three separate sorties with F-117's carrying GBU-27/B laser-guided penetration bombs. We dropped over twenty bombs on the target, sir, and we barely put a dent in it."

The F-117 strike was sounding less appealing by the minute to the President.

"We realized that if we ever wanted to get at Saddam and his generals we would need a bomb that could penetrate these superbunkers. The air force's Air Armament Division was asked to find a solution, and do it quickly. In record time they came up with Deep Throat, a forty-seven hundred-pound behemoth that was twice as long and twice as heavy as any other penetration bomb in our arsenal. It was so big, in fact, that the stealth fighter couldn't carry it. The bomb was designated the GBU28/B. On the last night of the war, sir, two F-111's took off from the Royal Saudi Air Force Base at Taif. They each carried one GBU-28/B. The bombs were dropped from high altitude. One missed, and the other scored a direct hit"